Fractal Friday with Cooper Carter!

Wow, I am going to have fun with this Amp/Cab mix stuff! Thanks for all the tips!! As for your prompt about "how do I . . .", one of the things I have not been able to wrap my head around fully yet is, assigning my FC12 switches to things like volume boost. I have read the manual, tried to utilize responses I have received on the forum and still not figuring it out. I know it is not complex, I am just not getting it. I am sure there are a lot of other great things that can be done with the FC switches, and am open to hearing it all. Thanks for all the incredible information you are handing out to us for free, it is very much appreciated!!!
 
Cooper Carter said:
Episode 19

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This is the most useful tip I've ever had in all my years of Axe ownership. I can't go back to using IRs for bedroom noodling now. This just sounds better. Going back to IRs introduces a 'boxy' sound I hadn't realised I was used to. This sounds much more 'in-your-face'.

Thank you so much @Cooper Carter ! I'd be interested to see whether the Line 6 Powercab and Kemper Kabinet utilise this approach with their speaker modelling. I bet I could replicate the sound of certain speakers if I had the EQ information.
 
Cooper, first off, great videos! I read somewhere you mentioned some settings on Def Leppard's AFIII guitar amps/fx they're using. I can't seem to find it when I do a search. Can you fill us in again on some of the tone tips? Thanks. Actually. I think it was Neal Schon's settings that you mentioned, not Def Leppard. Either way, any insight would be cool.
 
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This is another great vid. I took the preset off the Axe Change and with just a little tweaking for my guitar, it's going to be my new preset I use in the country band - great sounding when I split my bridge pickup!
 
I tried playing with this feature last night (different cab blocks for L/R channels, etc.) but I could not get my signal to go to just Left or just Right. I had the balance set so one cab was panned 100 and the other was -100 but it still did not work. I would mute the R cab, and I am still hearing the L cab in both ears (was on headphones). What am I doing wrong? I searched in the Output block and did not see anything there that should make a difference. If anyone can help me with my ignorance, it would be greatly appreciated.
 
Moondog Wily said:
I tried playing with this feature last night (different cab blocks for L/R channels, etc.) but I could not get my signal to go to just Left or just Right. I had the balance set so one cab was panned 100 and the other was -100 but it still did not work. I would mute the R cab, and I am still hearing the L cab in both ears (was on headphones). What am I doing wrong? I searched in the Output block and did not see anything there that should make a difference. If anyone can help me with my ignorance, it would be greatly appreciated.
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Just throwing this out there. Did you have the input mode on CAB Block set to Stereo?
 
Nathan M. said:
That's a fascinating video and I'm curious about a couple of things

Is that what certain products are doing with their "speaker emulation" cabinets and software? There is a powered cabinet on the market where you can select "Greenback", "Blue", etc.. Is it just an EQ of the approximate response of a particular speaker in a particular cabinet?

I also wonder if it were possible to create EQ curves of certain speakers in certain cabs but I don't know where you would obtain the responses nor how accurate they would be.

I remember the discussion on here but seeing it and hearing on video brought it all together. Fascinating, great video, thanks
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The Line6 Powercab (come on, let's just refer to products by their real brands and names!) afaik is also relying on impulse responses in a novel way: They use impulse responses to correct the frequency response of the particular speaker they are using so it's "flat" (ignoring effects of the room of course), then they can apply another IR that emulates the desired speaker model. This is kind of like a much more elaborate version of that EQ trick. I haven't tried the Powercab so I can't say how well it works in practice.

The filter/EQ trick would be more akin to what you will find in analog cab sims. For example my BluGuitar Amp 1's recording out supposedly has a cab sim built out of 7 different filters. The end result sounds ok, it's a very usable sound to run into FOH at band volumes. But not that great for using into headphones or recording direct.

I think IRs are just a much better tech for cab simulation and I wish that Cooper had used some other IR here to demonstrate because an IR with a SM57 tends to sound bright and kinda harsh on its own. That's why you often see 57+121 or 57+160 mic combinations to make for a fuller sound that still cuts in a mix. If I had to use a single mic IR without a full band mix, it would never have a SM57 unless it's placed so it's much less harsh sounding.

Apparently Fryette is making a new version of their GP/DI that will combine both analog and IR-based cab sims together. They feel it's a "best of both worlds" solution. So combining the technique in Cooper's video with an IR might give you interesting results. I haven't tried this myself yet.

For more "amp in the room" tones out of studio monitors, my trick is to simply use more high cut paired with multi-mic IRs (or two IRs with different mics/positions). A speaker cab on the floor while you listen standing up tends to attenuate a lot of high end. The great thing about Fractal's cab block is that you have so many options to tweak the tone. Add a bit of proximity effect for more low end thump and cut the highs more (lower frequency or steeper slope). More actual volume also helps.
 
Guitarman69 said:
Just throwing this out there. Did you have the input mode on CAB Block set to Stereo?
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OK, figured out my problem, and it was ALL my problem! I had the Output 1 L/R going into my mix board 1/2 channels, but did not have my mix board channels from the stereo signal of Output 1 panned left and right! As soon as I did the panning on mixboard L/R channels, all was clear as day and glorious!!! Hope someone can learn from my resolution of ignorance!!! Love playing with this different cabs on L/R!!!! Spent about an hour today playing with the tubes options on the amps, incredible what a difference they make!!!!! Subtle in many cases, but plain as day none the less! Love this equipment but it sure does eat a lot of my time just playing and having fun!!!!!! I did it ALL on 19.04 though, so I should be good for at least a week before I need to update!!!!!
 
Cooper Carter said:
Episode 22 comes courtesy of a request from @Moondog Wily!

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EXACTLY what I needed! Can not thank you enough for taking some of my ignorance out back for execution!! In order to vanquish some of my remaining ignorance, I just signed up for your FXIII Master Class!!! The information you have given me already in the FF w/ CC videos is already worth the cost!!!! Thanks for doing what you do, you are an excellent communicator and break things down in a way that I find very easy to understand! I am very much looking forward to the well guided deep dive offered by the Master Class!

EDIT: I am probably going to use the Filter block for my needs at this time!
 
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Loving the Master Class! Doing it all in order and just reached the beginning of the "Classic Rock Tone" tutorial!! The previous stuff was all top notch!!! I highly recommend this course for all but the most advanced users and even them may find some tricks in the fray!!!!
 
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Please consider a Fractal Friday that demonstrates management of many special tunings needed for a variety of differently tuned songs.

I'm really asking you to add to my hobbyist vote for a new tuner block to make it much easier to change to different tunings by enabling them to be saved within presets/scenes. I posted for it in the wish list section. I'm sure that you could be a great advocate because you obviously know the current functionality and I noticed some non-440 songs in your videos...

In your 'Fractal Friday with Cooper Carter # 21' video, you demo a song from one of your all-time favorite bands using the JMPre amp. I think that song is recorded with the guitar tuned to 432. Your guitar sounds like it is tuned way down to 414. That was likely done for a good reason and isn't the point. I wish I could manage that preset by setting a tuner block to save my preferred tuning for that song.

In your '10 Best Mid-Gain Axe-Fx III Presets' video, you demo two songs using factory preset #109 . I think those songs were recorded with the guitar tuned to 445 and your guitar seems to be tuned to the same. Again, I wish I could manage that preset by setting a tuner block to save my preferred tuning for those songs.

Now that Axe Fx has Set Lists to relate set lists to songs to presets and scenes, it would be add tunings to how that info in managed. Engaging the tuner footswitch would then become all that is needed to begin tuning to the preferred tuning for the current song.
 
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